"I met reservists and was extraordinarily impressed by their spirit and strength. I saw unity and cohesion among the reservists... I encounter unqualified love, which isn't shown in the studios, and it gives me enormous hope for our nation's future" – thus Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in another video produced by his mouthpiece, Topaz Look, posted on Facebook.
Video: Netanyahu speaks with his aide Topaz Luk / Credit: https://www.facebook.com/Netanyahu
Unity? Where exactly does he find this, when he constantly attacks his opponents and labels them extreme left? What cohesion is he talking about when he says it's in contrast to what's seen in studios – again attacking the media? And he dares speak of unity and cohesion while persistently pushing to pass the exemption law for ultra-Orthodox.
But as we know, in movies anything goes, and they claim it's based on a true story but events and names were changed for artistic narrative. The same applies to the video he posted on Facebook Friday. Netanyahu, wearing heavy makeup and a polo shirt, is filmed in his office answering questions supposedly sent from the public. He projects calmness. Looking into the camera, his eyes trying to convey empathy. Before him, on the table, lies a book titled "Ancient Pearls." And of course, on the first page Netanyahu finds support for what he saw in the field when visiting staging areas before entering Gaza. "You won't believe it," he tells Topaz Look, "on the first page of the book it says – 'We are one people. We are brothers.' Simply unbelievable that this is the book I took with me today for the trip."
I wasn't impressed, because with Netanyahu nothing is coincidental. Including the questions his spokesperson chose from those sent – or simply made up – to provide Netanyahu a comfortable platform to express his simplistic thoughts. Like the question asked in a previous video, how does he sleep at night? His answer is infuriating, "I sleep little, not much, but with a clear conscience." Having decided to answer the question, his response demonstrates insensitivity and callousness – not only toward the nation, which hasn't slept peacefully for over a year and a half, but toward the 59 families whose loved ones have been languishing in Gaza for 583 days and nights.
Is Trump bypassing Netanyahu?
It's no surprise, as Netanyahu has tied himself to an extremist, messianic coalition. He does the bidding of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, including their demand to conquer Gaza and hold it – hostages be damned. Due to his surrender to these two, he has become a secondary player in the drama unfolding under President Donald Trump's direction. If in the past it was promised that any deal with Saudi Arabia would include Israel as a continuation of the Abraham Accords, now Trump is bypassing us. He reaches an agreement with the Houthis, with Iran, and now with Saudi Arabia – leaving Netanyahu to fend for himself. Trump sees his weakness. This is already a danger to our security.
And in no video does Netanyahu address this, nor does he attack as he would have done had Joe Biden and Kamala Harris been in the White House. He fears Trump to the same degree he fears the ultra-Orthodox parties withdrawing if he doesn't pass the exemption law. And he fears them more than the anger of the majority of the people he is supposed to faithfully represent. He doesn't care how his citizens sleep at night or how they make ends meet. From his perspective, they are merely a reservoir from which reservists and regular soldiers come, and from which taxes are collected to sustain the draft dodgers.
In the movie we would produce, we would urge the ultra-Orthodox to withdraw and bring down the government – because according to every poll, Netanyahu will not be the next prime minister. And that, unlike Topaz Look's videos, is not science fiction. Even Trump understands this.
